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THE TRUTH 






©m f yea 



SU£§9M> 



etivtrqd ^nndag, December 24, 1S7& 



SAHTA BARBARA SPIRITUALIST /SSOCI/TIOlt. 



BY 



JOSEPHINE WALCOTT. 



SANTA BAKBAEA: 

TRIBUNE PUBLISHING COMPANY- 

wn, 



T-1IIB #milPH 



\-»i-*a» si^'^.iA 



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Shall Hake Yon Free 



A LECTURE, 

jgdhired ^undag, jgtrtnibtr 24, 187$ 

SANTA BARBARA SPIRITUALIST ASSOCIATION 



BY 



JOSEPHINE WALCOTT. 



SANTA BARBARA: 

TRIBUNE PUBLISHING COMPANY. 

1877. 



13 F' 2 '?* 



Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1377, by 

JOSEPHINE WALCOTT, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. 



B 



S/rall yl£ci7ce ~Yba -Free. 

T&# cispvrcltimvfoj ' FroedoniUs ouc of . 
Wk# innate inspirations of the li^uncuisouh 
In the lower, primary conditions of or- 
ganized life, the same desire is manifest 
in the struggle for and jnaijitaiyajice of- : 
the itnr est rained volition of pJiysicaf 
powers. The ehainedbriitewill chafe w?d , 
fret in foams of passion for the liberty of \. 
his riaiive wilds, The caged Ibird Wbeaiz 
with restless pinions the prison bar§ that 
shuts its harrow space from the freedom 
of the outer, unlimited atmosphere. \T1iQ: 
groveling reptile struggles bejieath the op- 
pression of a careless foot. The veriest 
serf fulfils with reluctant drudgery the 
tasks allot ed by his master. 



2 &* E™*h £Ml <&**' §m 4***- ( 

All nature is eloquent with the grandeur 
of freedom. "The wind bloweth where it 
listeth. 9 ' The sunshine illumines the void 
of space, unthwarted by the finite will. 
The mighty impulse of life throbs in the 
bosom of the earth, and responsive to the 
sacred volition, abundant verdure springs 
upon every side. 

In the great wilderness of natural life, 
there is freedom to fulfil the destinies of 
being. The rivers seek the larger element 
of ocean. The oceans toss and tumble in 
awful liberty, yet make no mistake. All 
nature is safe hi freedom, because free- 
dom itself is held in the grasp of immut- 
able and universal law, without which, 
not anything is free, and in which, there is 
freedom for every element of animate and 
inanimate life. 

Within the enlightened thought of every 
soul, there reigns a desire for larger and 
more comprehensive realities; a fulfil- 
ment of the noble ideals]that have evolved 



P' C«ty Mt'xii i£&*** §W #"•• * 

new grace and glory with each successive 
age. 

Thrilling through the destinies of soul 
existence is the Spartan cry for Freedom. 
4 'Give me MbeHy or give me death.'* Lib- 
erty for the body and liberty for the soul: 
Liberty to consecrate to the highest and 
most conscientious uses every function 
of being. Liberty to seek for happiness. 
and tit e fulfilment of * our noblest aspira- 
tions in whatsoever avenue the highest 
intelligence shall dictate. 

What, then, shall make us free? Fan 
backward in the vast ages, was uttered 
this transcendent aphorism, ik Ye shall 
know the truth, and the truth shall make 
you free." How then shall we know the 
truth t WJiat new lens shall open to the 
spiritual vision new vistas of revelation ? 
How shall we rise from the shackles of ig- 
norance, prejudice and superstition f 
How shall we eliminate the intelligence 
from the parasite encunibrance Of false 



4 \ght gmtl { glwll Jgfaht Son &tt. 

education and transmitted opinions ? 
How shallwe unfold that greatness of in- 
tellect that shall fathom and make plain 
the mysteries of the law of life ? We an- 
swer, as the lower is a stepping grade to 
the higher — the lesser to the greater — the 
younger to the elder, — so the past shall he 
to the future, only much more abundant. 
Every perfect solution to the world's vast 
problems has been in answer to earnest, 
unremitting questioning, and rigid, un- 
swerving investigation. Nature becomes 
a tevelator to the eager seeker after her 
hiddenhar monies. The scientist delves in- 
to the inner labyrinths of the earth, and it is 
revealed to him ofceons on ceons of time — of 
eternities of the past — that by the little 
span of the present may be linked with 
eternities to come ; with him . there is 
neither begining nor ending, but grada- 
tion in the everlasting cycles toward per- 
fection. He speaks to the flowers and they 
yield to him the secret of incense, growth 



and bloom, the trees dre as orMles, and 
every shrub a high priest of knowledge. 
The firmament expcvhds cCbbve hint its Uh 
open bbblc, lettered with myridd sidH. 
He measures the constellations and re- 
veals to Us worlds upon worlds ^ countless 
as atoms that float lit ihfiihiie spaee. 

Bui to him thai questions fiotl alt ria- 
idre is sJiut and sedled ; the edrth is a 
conipaci of rock and soil for his shufiting, 
shanibling feet— the illiahined dome of 
Skies d roof stuck with candles that he 
may better grope his way about. 

Bui when thought and reason wtestle 
together in earnest conflict after truth, 
mind in contact* with hiind, inteUigmce 
With intelligence, in ha get frictiony some 
glihtmeris sure te pmettdte the portals 
of unwilling ignorance and doubt, and 
though ndiie may cbirifireJiehd ail of at- 
solute truth, ybt the relation condition of 
each miM> UhigMf, Mtter and more re- 
ceptive: for fttiMst fUemm OMd tdhdid 



tf gh* %rntt[ ghall &*he $ou gnt. 

reasoning. "Come, let us reason together 
said the ancient prophet evoked by th$ 
spirit of investigation, and St. Pa,ul, one 
of the most learned of ancient seekers af- 
ter the true philsophies of life reasoned 
with the people they might find the. free* 
dom of truth, and to-day , throughout th$ 
civilized world, the great and learned of 
intellect are saying, each unto each, 
"Come, let us unite our endeavor and see 
what manifold secrets nature will unfold, 
from her lahratory. Let us combine our 
intelligence and see what lofty revelations 
shall make answer to our aspiration and 
research. 

Thus the chemist, the naturalist, the 
philosopher tread hand in hand in hand, 
shoulder to shoulder the upper paths of 
knowledge ; neither may one impede the* 
other for all seeming differences resolve 
themselves into perfect harmonies on the 
clear, serene heights where truth unfolds 
her inspirations and her laws. v 



§he grutlt gfmll j$zhe §au grtt. 7 

" What is the good of it?'' is the question 
of the unthinking mind when some new 

truth is elicited from the wide domain of 
the hitherto undiscovered or unaccepted 
—not realizing thai" all truth, however in- 
significant in its seeming relations to Jm~ 
inanity, when once received into the mind 
as such, is the nucleus from which evolve 
still grander perceptions, widening arid 
illuminating the mental horizon until 
the whole being becomes radiated and 
transfigured by this inflow from the di- 
vine. 

A single drop of water is replete with 
beautiful revelation : analytically con- 
sidered f >, it becomes the focus of myriad 
forms of life with infinite possibilities of 
renewal and expansion. So it is with a 
single mental conceptions If it embody 
one germ of truth, it is the nucleus of a 
manifold dev elopement, attractiug unto 
itself from the realm of universal facts 
and realities, tin til the mental and spir- 



8 P* grulh &*& 4B**'- §™ 4"'- 

itual perceptions he come so quickened 
and enlarged, that truth for its own sake 
is the spontaneous desire and food for the 
soul. 

The purposes of this life are for disci- 
pline and to he of use — the attainment of 
truth its aim. Then shou Id we fearlessly 
seek out all truth, trusting to the har- 
mony of God's law for the end. 

Wh at is the good of it I No?ie may es- 
timate the value of a single truth. For 
whose benefit ? For the benefit of unnum- 
bered millions, and for mv lions yet un, 
born. Nothing is insignificant that per 
tains to human destiny — nothing is com- 
mon or unclean, if folded in the white 
clasp of truth. 

We have always been an advocate of re- 
form: not sudden revolutionary reforms 
but steady, straightforward innovations 
to new and better conditions— a progress 
that rights things in the right way,^ Old 
fallacies need not be perpetuated because 



W* grtitft Malt &aWffott gm. $ 

Ihey are old:' we may not abuse them, bit 1 
hewing served their purpose, let them pass 
away. A. false theory issometimes a step- 
ping stone to that which is trite, so we may 
treat error dispassionatly—it may at 
least contain an experience that shall in- 
dex to true conclusions. 
: We have known many a man to belong 
to a sect or faction, political and also re : 
ligious,for no other reason than that the 
f cither did before him and that he had no 
strength of conviction of his own, yet would 
lash with the zeal of a bigot, all who diff- 
ered from] rim and the manner of the fa- 
ther befoie him. The child was laugh' 
ivhat others had thought before him, but 
did not think nor question for himself. 

Glcl tradition usurps the place of orig- 
inal thought, and error becomes so thor- 
oughly assimilated with truth that the 
process of disintegration is as slow as the 
evolution of the generations. The new of 
to-day is the outgrowth of the old of yes- 



IP §he gmty §Ml J£tffo @m 4,$$, 

terday qjtd is just as deserving of human 
consideration. 

The gradual growing out of old errors,, 
whether of belief or custom, and the in- 
growing of the true and upright consti- 
tutes reform, The few of to-day, deeply 
conscious of the errors and transgressions 
of the past, pioneer the unequal struggle 
between the true and the false , hewing a 
slow but sure pathway through the wild- 
erness of unscientific conceptions and un- 
sound conclusions. The many dispute 
every footstep of progress, almost inviting 
some siyift revolution before they build 
anew.. The extravagance of the age de-^ 
viands retrenchment; that would be re- 
formatory: but extravagance prefers th$ 
feast of to-day and will take the famine 
when it is inevitable ; this is revolution- -. : 
ary. 

The state pampers her sons and stead- 
ily refuses justice to her daughters. Jus-, 
tice willl come, even though heaven need 



f h* gritty ghnU Jpft* §au <$nt. 11 

send the thunderbolt of r win to state and 
church to enforce it. From that awful 
pyre of national devastation, the daugh- 
ters of the land -will rise side by side with 
the sons on the divine plane of human 
equality, to redeem and make free with 
more effulgent knowledge and sublime 
wisdom, garnered from tlie experience of 
the past— to build together a nobler his- 
tory among the destinies of the nations.. So 
"let justice be done though ithe heavens 
fall/' 

This question of Woman's r Suffrage, 
which seems so complicated to the une- 
qual vieivs of a class of individuals, ad- 
justs itself unerringly when weighed in 
the scales of justice. Justice says, "if the 
franchisebe a privilege, then it should be- 
long to woman as' well' as toman; if it be 
a duty, it also becomes individual, and 
"no person can justly perform the duties of 
another." 

Intelligence should be the basis of the 



12 &ht §rutl ( §hHll 4B*h gou grtt. 

franchise, which is also the sweeping de- 
cree that intelligence should he universal. 
To have intelligence we must educate the 
embryo faculties of the mind. The hope 
of the world is in the rising generation. 
Our common schools are the cradles of 
American Liberty, and instead of being 
the overcrowded^ hotbeds of physical and 
mental disorder, they must be so multi- 
plied andregiila,ted that every child, male 
and female, rich and poor, should recieve 
equal and abundant opportunity for in- 
tellectual and physical development. 

That ignorant m en now have the power 
of ballot is no reason that intelligent wo- 
man should be debarred the same privi- 
lege. That some women do not want the 
franchise is no reason ivhy it should be il- 
legal io those who would not ignore the 
duty of this republican privileger. 

The aggregate of slaves didnot demand 
their liberty, yet it was just and righteous 
to make th°mfree. The ignorant do not 






ffc* §mti( §h:ill 4&the §au gnc M 

(M*norformiettigence,yet the state wise- 
ly legislates for education. The barbar- 
ous nations do not desire enlightenment. 
The heathen do not desire Christianity, 
yet the great and good of many ages have 
sacrificed country, home, friends, and life 
itself to offer them its teachings. 

Women are but dimly concious of their 
power, so circumscribed ai'o their limits". 
Nor can man -vise to' the full power and 
majesty of manhood while women hang 
as fettered cmd helpless appendages upon 
his resources diul his strength: Woman 
must be free, iudepen dent f set. f --reliant 
aitd individualized ; v then wiE she M 
irvdrts most worthy Jielp??iate/cd7?ipajiiori 
and co-worker. 

The argument that the franchise will 
yjtfit woman for the duties of wife and 
mother falls powerless when we reflect 
that paralell aiguribents would be equally 
signiiicant if applied as anobstttcle to the 
evifranchisnienl v of'77tsn^ Eet justice be 



H ghe gmt\\ ghzll ^ke §aa ^m. 

done, and the inevitable result will be the 
enlargement and uplifting of the nation- 
al life. 

The chureh holds with fatal pertinacity 
to the letter of the past, though both clergy 
and laymen practically ignore them 
Will the chureh purge itself of the unrea- 
sonable dogmas which emanated front 
the mental monstrosities of the popes fa- 
natical sovereigns and self -righteous Cal- 
vins of the unlettred past, rather than 
from a perfect Deity ? Will the church 
open her spiritual arms to all God's chil- 
dren and make the Christ-love a reality 
of universal benificence ? Or will she con- 
tinue to exalt on the one hand and send, 
forthherflat of condemnation on the other, 
according to the fallible doctrine of priests 
and bishops ? If the ecclesiastical estab- 
lishments have the truth, the whole, abso- 
lute truth, why fear to shed its divine ra- 
diance over the great multitude of be-, 
nighted souls ? , If truth is mightier 



fArfn///? ghall M^e §m 4'**- # 

them falsehood, which should tremble and 
quake before the other ? Truth belongs to 
the universal and absolute— U belongs to 
all humanity and cannot be obscured in 
magnificent synagogues, loaded with 
costly ornamentation, pew rents and 
mortgages. 

Why must these hired divines stand 
aloof from the great unwashed, than kino 
God that they are not as other men are. 
or even as these poor Spiritualists. 

If the religious bodies of to-day have alt 
of truth, why fear the innovation of a 
demonstrated immortality ? Fear proves 
us slaves of error, for truth makes us free 
and fearless. And yet in every age of the 
world, positive religionists have stead- 
fastly opposed the investigations and con - 
elusions of scientific research. Science is 
based, upon the immutability of the laws 
of nature and the complete harmony of 
every event of the universe. Science ac 
knowledges the necessity and reason of a 



W f»* Irii/^f Jfcf// <^M* §ou 4th.. 

law. It gathers substance from the vast 
realm of facts traces backward to hidden 
causes of existing effect siul onward to 
ultimate results. 

A religion which involves an qcknowl- 
edgeine icof God as the author of all law, 
which stimulates to recognition of duly 
to every surrounding object, enldnlding 
emotions of aspiration, reverence and 
devotion toward all truth, from whatever 
source it may emanate, must in the hope- 
ful fu tu re be the religion oftli e en Ugh ten ed 
world. It will listen with high enthusi- 
asm and tender awe to the logical induc- 
tions of reason, the proofs of science and 
the beautiful inspsrations of every age 
of the world, and. the coming people ivill 
worship God in spirit and in truth . 

Although tliere is a growing liberality 
ajnong the professed evangelists of the 
age, yetreligion, asrepresentedin the fixed 
creeds of many religious sects, is a policy 
of bigotry, s elf -right e ou sn ess and intoler- 






f|g ps|| £ig| JKi&j #w 4"*- if 

a/u j e, ^«f i?#*^ persecute what it cannot 
proselyte and anathematize what it dare 
g(P^ destroy. Jesus, the most radical 
of spiritual reformers, was ciucified: 
insomuch that the truths he uttered 
were fatal to the existing laws of Moses, 
accepted by the people as direct from God. 
The ?:acjc, the stake and the cross are dead 
issues of the past in this land, but the re- 
former of to-day undergoes a crucible no 
lees terrible: thai the wound is upon the 
spirit and not l upon the flesh— in the slan- 
ders, false testimony, evil gossip andinis- 
representaiions, that in the refinement of 
cruelty are hurled upon those who dare 
tQbe true toMteir \ convictions, if adverse 
to popular opinion. 

When Galileo gave to th world the re- 
sull of his investigations and declared to 
Papal Rome the revolutions of the earth/ 
theTewasarevoliinthe religious world. 
Galileo's discoveries were declared to be 
contrary to Scripture---the pope issued a 



IS §1* §™tl( ghali Make Qon ^rtt. 

proclamation — claiming direct comntu- 
nication from God— asserting that tlte 
earth did, not move. The story of his per- 
secutions is too idetl Jcnowu to be repeated. 
The Inquisition had done its worst when 
that great spirit quailed, under the tor- 
ture of the flesh and he retracted what na- 
ture had revealed, to him under the scru- 
, tiny of his master search. 

Lather, the pioneer reformer, in his 
grand stride toward religious Liberty 
when he assumed for every individual the 
right to interpret the Scriptures according 
to his own intelligence, thus giving intel- 
lectual liberty to the religious age, braved 
the anathema of the church and the per- 
secutions of the catholic ivorld,. 

When the investigators of * to-day declare 

.that there is a law by which we may span 

the chasm of death and communicate 

i Unth those who dwell in spheres of spir- 

,. itual being and, thus gain new knowledge 

of immortality, stand beneath a storm of 



§ht grutk gHiiU jgaAr &» 4nt. W 

reproach and .accusation \\ of which insan- 
ity is the very least. 

.. Servetus was burned at the t slaxr 
through the zealous bigotry of Calvin, lo- 
calise he clawed to declare his belief in (he 
unity instead, of the trinity of God : and 
these were Marshals in the grand anuij 
of human martyrs, struggling forever, to- 
ward the truth which shall make us free. 
To-day, revered and honored by the very 
horde that spurned them, as heralds tf 
larger liberty yet lobe. So the investiga- 
tor of to-day, may well await the verdict 
of coming generations. JS "acton, Fran i< : 
tin, Morse, Tyndall, Darwin , Huxley , and 
hosts of others, have faced the scorn, dcr 
Vision and prejudice of the world, strong 
in the conviction of the truer and nobler 
fu ture of the race. 

Why this, terrible protest that spares 
from its ostracism neither learning, ug<< 
nor sex :?. Is it that truth is conservative, 
and has arrayed itself An relentless con* 



20 ghc gritty §h;ill ^Ithc gon gnc r 

flict against error, or is it that intolerance 
is afraid of truth — afraid of investiga- 
tion. We meet our friend with the glad 
tidings of a proven immortality, and, he 
turns coldly away as if Ulcere a bitter lie. 
But thank God, they come to us from the 
by-ways and the hedges, from the high 
places and the low places, and angels 
come and talk to us, and we find we are 
as one, on the level plane of hunianibroth- 
erhood. 

To believe or not to believe cannot alter 
the truth that makes us free, and we who 
have heard the whispers of the angels may 
possess our souls in patience, while the 
battle of the creeds goes on. We need not 
fear, though the keen arrows of falsehood 
lacerate the sensitive spirit. The holj/ 
spirit of truth is with us, and shall make 
us steadfast strong and glad. 

The earth glows with a new beauty. 
There is new beauty in the faces we love — 
we catch fresh glimpses of the soul, and 



liNM* i^ mM* #*fc Jfafc 21 

the temple of the soul is ever beautiful fo 
the soul seeing eye. I can perceive no in- 
consistency between true Spiritualism of 
to-day and Christianity as taught by Je- 
tus, I cannot l perceive why the churches 
of to-day cannot accept the God-given 
truths of Spiritualism, It is a need of the 
human soul , else the law for its fulfil- 
ment would not exist: While ive know 
that our loved ones that we left in the cold 
trance of death have spanned the awful 
chasm and come to as with loving words 
as in the olden time, we would gladly 
shake off every ism and stand forth, free 
and enfranchised as sons and daughters 
of one God, on the level plane of common 
humanity, seeking only to know thai 
which is true. But when we tell of tender 
voices that have floated to us in some quiet 
hour, revealing of another and spiritual 
life succeeding the physical, beyond, the 
change of death— of existence too beautiful 
for language to describe — of joys that can - 



M gin grutff glmll M^ #>" <grn. 

not be littered, the professed servitors of 
the meek and lowly Jesus smite us with 
their consecrated lips — denounce as gross 
and sacreligious swindling, the sweet 
truth of converse with the angels. 

We are called free-lovers : would to God 
that we were; would that love might del- 
uge this life of ours and make it pure and 
sweet as heaven. With a sneer that is not 
of Christ we are called affinity-seekers. 
(Treat God! may the spirit of thy divine 
affinity descend upon every soul in thy 
presence and make us one with the beuu- 
tiful, good and true. 

Said St. James, one of the most logical 
of the disciples of Jesus: "If any man 
among you seem to he religious and brid- 
letli not his tongue, but deceiveth his own 
heart, that man's religion is vain" And 
so, fearless of all that now is, and all that 
is to come, we must prove well every prob- 
lem, whether of physical or spiritual im- 
port and abide by that which is true; ttnd 






ghc gntf { §hHll &<tfo §o* 4nc. 23 ' 

when the enfranchised soul shall step 
forth into those higher iralms of * spiritual 
light and love, illumined by the tend&r 
presences gone before, truth shall come to 
us in diviner beauty and truthshall make 
us free, 



